When a person/user surfs the world wide web, the user's browser maintains a surf history. For example, AOL® has an arrow next to the URL window that when clicked opens up a drop-down menu of previously visited web sites. Internet Explorer® has a more extensive search history feature that allows you to see all sites visited by someone at the computer on a certain date as well as a list of the most visited sites. It allows the user to search the list of sites. These surf histories or lists of previously visited web sites are lists of places that exist only in cyberspace and which the user has visited. Also, often the sites visited are gigantic sites that tens of millions of people visit per day or week and hence do not characterize the life of the person very much. Knowing that a person visited google.com no more tells you about that person's personality, life, uniqueness than would knowing that the person passed through a major intersection in Manhattan. Consequently, surf history lists cannot be said to meaningfully characterize the life of the user during a particular period of time. It could not provide a person reviewing their own history with the satisfaction, nostalgia and practical value associated with a digital leg history that meaningfully characterizes that person's life and past physical activities.
Some of the data that a person may wish to include in his digital leg history is data that exists handily on the electronic transmission device of another person he encounters and concerns that other person. There are also known methods of transferring data objects between portable electronic devices using short-range wireless communication methods, such as described in United States Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0085188 to Ishii et al. entitled Method for Transferring Data Objects Between Portable Devices. The prior art, however, does not disclose using such transmission in the context of an overall digital leg history, especially not in the manner described more fully below.
Although there also exists various ways of recording events in one's life in digital form, see, e.g., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0008321 to Gallagher et al. entitled Identifying Collection Images With Special Events, the prior art does not teach the idea of a digital leg history with the characteristics and advantages described more fully below.
In addition, it is believed that in the not too distant future the distinction between business and individuals may be blurred since everyone will have a URL. This will also blur the distinction between advertisements and URLs since a person or business will be able to simply point a person to its or their URL and the web site located there will function as an advertisement
There is compelling need to have data on the location and activities, past and present, of individuals. Such monitoring for security and police purposes raises “big brother” concerns. Even if such concerns can be met in various ways, empirically people may be severely reluctant to voluntarily submit to such monitoring unless the ability to monitor arose out of natural activities that people enjoyed doing. Accordingly, it is very useful to be able to have a digital leg history that people can use to sit back and review their life history in a novel and interesting way. Furthermore, such a digital leg history would thereby provide a way for security to be enhanced. The security needs of the public are often compelling, particularly since the advent of the global war on terror.
As an adjunct to the need to need to have data on the location and activities, past and present, of individuals and businesses, there is also a related need to have such data on the time and place of data transmissions or transfers.
Another basic need among businesses in society is advertising. Businesses are always looking for new venues in which to advertise. When use of the Internet became commonplace in the late 1990's business advertising on the Internet exploded. A digital leg history that is attractive to users would provide a new venue for businesses to advertise in.
Another problem unrelated to the above, and one that aggravates people, is finding their own possessions after such possessions have been seemingly lost. A person could buy something in a store, go to a doctor's appointment, meet a friend etc. over a period of hours and then realize that they lost an object that they were carrying or a valuable possession and do not have an easy way to figure out where it could be. If they had a clear log of where they had been and when and which people they had met during a defined time interval it would be easier to find lost objects. If the generating of such a log were not time-consuming on the part of the person generating it, it would be particularly useful.
Accordingly, there is a need to have a digital record of a person's past—where they have been physically—that includes people or places that they met that they consider significant enough to record for later use—as well as data transmitted from other members of a network including friends and including business members interested in advertising. There is a need to have such a log whose entries would automatically be transmitted to a database on the Internet. There is a further need to have a digital leg history that is appealing to review, including but not limited to reasons of nostalgia, that can be used to promote public security, that can provide a new venue for business advertisement and that can help track and ultimately find lost objects.
Another problem is that the world wide web and Internet in general have become dominated by large entities such as Google™. It is fair to say that while the Internet and world wide web has successfully connected everyone to everyone else, and this has provided new and great opportunities for smaller business and individuals, it is still fair to say that the world wide web, and in particular the process of searching the world wide web, has become dominated by a few large businesses. There is a need to allow smaller businesses and entities to feature more heavily in importance during web searching. Furthermore, it is fair to say that the process of searching the world wide web does not adequately take cognizance of the unique characteristics and tastes of the searching person. There is therefore a further need to allow web searching to better take cognizance of the unique tastes and characteristics of the searching person.